Webinar Series on Cross-border Regional Planning to be hosted by American Planning Association

Webinar Series on Cross-border Regional Planning to be hosted by American Planning Association

The American Planning Association (APA) is hosting a webinar entitled “Dialogo on the Border: A Unique Experience” will be held on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM (Pacific Time). The webinar is presented through a partnership of APA’s Regional and Intergovernmental Planning Division and Latinos and Planning Division. Participants will earn 1.5 AICP Certification Maintenance Credits.

This webinar is part of a series providing training to urban planners and professionals in related fields on best practices in cross-border regional planning along the U.S./Mexico border. The webinar will focus on an initiative of the Latinos and Planning Division called Dialogos and specifically on the first dialogo on the border held on April 19-20, 2013 in Brownsville, a border city in Texas.

The webinar will present lessons learned in the community engagement effort resulting from the dialogo in a border area: demographic realities, perceptions about poverty and isolation in border towns, and economic and development strategies in the planning of border areas. Participants will learn about community engagement efforts, social equity issues and using the arts and cultural expression to inspire the planning process.

Registration cost is $40 per registrant (APA member or non-member), $20 per member of either sponsoring Divisions (this $20 discount from the full $40 cost may also be obtained by joining either Division at the time of registration), and $10 per student (full-time or part-time). On-line registration available: https://www.planning.org/ecommerce/conference/viewConferenceDetails.aspx...

Speakers will share “lessons learned” and discuss emerging issues that are now being addressed through collaborative planning efforts. Speakers include Dr. Edelmiro Escamilla, Dr. Cecilia Giusti, James Rojas and Monica Villalobos.

Dr. Escamilla is a Professor at Texas A&M University. His research interests include project management, capacity generation for global workforce, facility management, and historical preservation focusing on marginalized populations. She is Associate Dean for Outreach and Diversity and a Professor at Texas A&M University. Dr. Giusti’s research focuses on Colonias along the Texas-Mexico border region and on the many aspects of planning in low income communities. James Rojas is an urban planner and artist and one of the few nationally recognized urban planners to examine U.S. Latino cultural influences on urban design. Mr. Rojas has facilitated over 250 interactive workshops and created over 50 interactive urban dioramas across the country. Monica Villalobos is a Senior Project Manager for AECOM, where she works on transportation planning and public engagement initiatives. Ms. Villalobos is the Chair of the Latinos and Planning (LAP) Division of the American Planning Association (APA), and has served on the National APA Diversity Task Force for the past 3 years.